Need bottle & Formula Advice

[Rainbowbrite]

Hi ladies,

Once again your expert help & guidance is required. I need to find both bottles & formula to start MJ on. I dont want to, i have to do it for reasons i'd rather not discuss just yet.

So as this is all new to me, where do i start, what do i do etc. How do i do it, do i just give her a bottle of formula instead of the breast? What if she wont take it?

This is a vey difficult time for & something i didnt want to do yet but have no choice. PLEASE dont put me down, this has to be done. I'm looking for support with starting MJ on formula here, not people telling me how i should just keep on breastfeeding.

Thanks
RB

[drewid]

RB you'll find nothing BUT support for you here. We all know you and love you! :)

First of all, don't go cold turkey (unless you have to of course). If you have the time, I would start by just subsituting one feed for a few days, and then gradually adding another etc etc until she is fully weaned.

You might need to experiment with bottles if she hasn't taken one before. All babies are different. I would recommend starting with the cheap ones first!

Same goes with formula. I think the cheapest is Heinz, so start there and see how she likes it.

You might find she doesn't like it at first, being a breast baby. But perserverance, and consistency is the key I think! Some people suggest maybe having your partner do it for a while, so she learns that the breast is no longer available for feeding. But on the otherhand, she might feel safer and more at ease trying something new with you.

Unfortunately, theres no easy way - just experiment a bit until you find the best way for you and MJ.

Best of luck! Hope everything is OK with you, feel free to send a PM if you need a chat OK? :)

Take care!

[MariaO]

Hi Rainbowbrite,

You can buy stickpacks of formula, I know that S26 do them (rather than a whole tin) and a starter bottle kit or even just one to start. Some people prefer pigeon, some advent.

Depending on the age of your baby (up to six months) you will need to sterilize the bottles/teats.
Place Utensils in a large saucepan. Cover with Water. Bring to boil and boil for 5 mins. Empty kettle and refill with tap water and boil and allow to cool. Measure the amount of cooled boiled water into bottle. Add formula from stickpack (or measure with scoop as per instructions if you have bought a tin).
Seal the bottle with cap and shake to mix.

It is a good idea for someone else to feed the baby formula initially as if baba smells your breastmilk if my increase chances of refusal.

I may have gone into silly detail here so just ignore me if it is not what you wanted.

[MariaO]

By the way, when babies are going from breastmilk to formula there are often a few false starts and periods of adjustment so don't get too downhearted if it is a little troublesome at first.

Oh and if you live in a clean water supply area, clean water and refrigeration you do not need to worry about the sterilizing after baba is six months old (accord Robin Barker's Babylove)

[poshBecks]

Hi RB,

I had to put ds on bottle before I wanted to aswell... so I know how you feel!!

I had pretty much no milk supply so ds was starving...he took to the bottle well!!

If you have a good milk supply you will probably have to gradually replace feeds with bottle so that you dont become engorged. So, maybe start off with 1 bottle. Then the next day 2 & the next 3 etc.

I used Heinz Gold formula with ds ( it's not too expensive) & the I just bought cheap bottles, but bought much better quality teats to go in them. I think PUR was the teat brand?! You'll need about 6-8 bottles. The best sort of steriliser i found was one that youy pop in the microwave...a lot less fiddling around!!

It doesn't make you a bad mum!! I had to learn that :o I hope this helps... Good luck with it all!! It'll all work out fine :)

[stormanet]

Hiya Whatever you do, don't feel bad about it!! I never managed to BF my little man... I expressed for 12 weeks and he has been on formula ever since so I feel like my own mini expert *lol*

Formula my paediatrician and doctors all recommend Karicare Gold (yes it has to be gold) as it is the closest to mimicking breast milk. It is also kinder on baby's gut so constipation etc that you worry about are not as likely as with some of the other formula.

My little man also suffered from baby eczema so I had him on the karicare sensicare with the orangey lid for about 2 months for all his feeds except the last one of the day/night... I kept with the regular karicare Gold for that final feed as the sensikare has the proteins already partially broken down or something so doesn't last as long in bub's system.

As far as bottles go, I tried Avent, but found they leaked horribly so I now use pigeon. The pigeon range of teats are also designed to do special stuff so that they don't have any effect on baby's orthadontic development.

The pigeon steriliser is also the one we use as you can fit all sorts of stuff into it and it holds heaps

If you have any other q's about bottle feeding etc then I'm happy to help if I can

Oh yeah, my little man is 7 and a half months now... has been on formula since 12 weeks... he is the happiest, healthiest bub around :) (apart from his snotty nose he came down with yesterday!!)

Bottles are also easier because other people can help with the feeds!!

REmember there are some good points to bottles :)

k

[Rainbowbrite]

Thanks so much for the quick advice.

I'm thinking of just giving her a lunch bottle for now, that way DH can do it on weekends. Not wanting to totally wean her, just comp feed (i think thats what its called). I dont have supply problems at all, basically was told that I need to have ME time. I've not left MJ for longer than 20minutes since her birth. As i said, its not my choice, its on medical advice.

Thanks again
RB

[lil monkey]

Hi RB,

I was at a stage like you where I wanted to keep bf but was having too many problems and Tayla wasn't putting on weight so how I started was:

1. Expressed breastmilk into a bottle first and then tested the waters to see how she would take a bottle which she did.

2. substituted one feed a day but made it up with 50% bm and 50% formula.

3. gradually substituted another feed per day and less BM and more formula

4. Substituted one feed with full formula

etc.

I found that after a month, Tayla didn't want any BM and just had formula.

We tried the s26 but it severely constipated her and she had reflux so we put her on the Nan HA gold which is meant to be milder on their tummies and she is still on it now!

As for bottles, I use all avent with their microwave steraliser which is great and so handy. Yes they do leak occasionally but it all depends on how you pull the teats through the rings and attach to the bottle - very sensitive things!

Just read your latest post. "ME" time is very important - I didn't want to do it but was so exhausted after 4 months i had to. Have you thought about trying to express with a hand pump? This way you get your time but MJ is still having BM!!

[Chickadee]

RB - Me time is a very important for a mum. I'm glad to hear you'll be getting some.

I was clueless when it came to picking out a brand of formula and didn't understand all the codes on the different tins, what the differences were between soy versus goat versus cow, etc. You may already have looked all that up but feel free to ask. I used SMA for DD from around 3 months - it was cheapest :p . It's a slightly older formulation, and some have told me a "heavier" one used for bubs that don't seem to be satisfied with the other. After she'd been on it 3 months I was warned she might be prone to constipation because of it, but she never was. As others have said, you might just have to experiment a little to find the formula that suits your daughter best. If you have space, some people recommend storing the formula tin in the fridge, but any cool dry place is ok too.

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet -
- your daughters poos will change. Definitely will be smellier and may be different in consistency and frequency. So learn to how to hold your breath at diaper change time and don't panic.
- Whoever gives the bottle, you basically feed the same as bf, ie to refusal. She will stop sucking when she is full and if you try to encourage her to have a few more ml it is more than likely that the entire bottle will be thrown back up into your lap. Don't get overly concerned at counting ml.
- If you have a dishwasher, just pop all the bottle stuff in there and no need to sterilise separately.
- Teach your DH (or whoever) how to clean and make up bottles. He can do that in the evening & put it in the fridge ready for you to use the next day. Don't let it be more work for you (because it IS more work than bf!). Our routine when DD was needing sterilised water was to put the kettle on as soon as we got home from work, that way it was boiled and cool enough to make up bottles by the time we were done dinner at 8 or 9pm.

Good luck.

[WeThree]

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet -
- your daughters poos will change. Definitely will be smellier and may be different in consistency and frequency. So learn to how to hold your breath at diaper change time and don't panic.
.

lol i had to put tilly on the bot about 8-12 wks ago for a variety of reasons (although being nearly 1 i should have just waited a bit and put her straight on normal milk!) anyway, the first time she did one of those poos, i panicked! i rang the midwifes at the hospital and described it to them, it was like concrete, and the smell!! lol anyway they had a bit of a chuckle at me but let me know that it was all ok! getting some time to yourself, even an hr or so is really important, so dont feel bad or feel you have to explain yourself to anyone, MJ will continue to thrive just as before, after a bit of a shaky start,Tilly absolutely loves her bottles now! :)

[Rainbowbrite]

Thanks again,

About the expressing, i've tried numerous times & after 1 hour only get 2 tbs and alot of pain so thats out of the question. Also not wanting to stop bf yet, i love it too much :(

I have some cheap bottles, Dymple I think so i'll try those first. Also have Tommee Tippee Nuborn, but i guess i need different teats now :confused:

On formula, I got a trial pack of Soul Pattinson Infant Formula - any comments on that one? It was only $2.95 for 3 sachets. I think the tins only about $14 too.

This is so nerveracking, bf is so much easier :( Don't need to think, just feed.

RB

[Chickadee]

RB,
BF is much easier, there's no doubt about that. But FF has some advantages too.

Although there is a lot of discussion about the merits of one brand of formula versus another, and problems bubs have on some, I think most bubs are relatively indifferent to brand of formula. As I said, I went cheap - SMA was $11 a tin. The change from breastmilk to formula is a bigger one than between different types of formulas.

For those bubs used to bf though, the type of bottle and teat can be a big factor in making the transition. It might be worth talking to the ABA or a lactation consultant, if you haven't already, to get some advice direct from the source. Most there will be completely understanding about the need to comp-feed and should be able to help. My lactation consultant suggested Pur or Tommee Tippee teats, which are just the narrow plain ones. But some mums find the Pigeon Peristaltic the best at mimicking b/f.

Give it a try with what you already have and see how it goes. Remember also that bubs will spit out anything that doesn't taste like what they're expecting (continues all the way through introduction to solids). So don't be too discouraged if your first try is rejected, just keep offering the bottle for lunch feeds and after a bunch of tastes she might take it. Or she may do better taking it from your DH.

This was longer than I intended :o Sorry. I'm sure you're now flooded with TOO much advice! So just a few more words: Relax, you'll both get good at this with time, same as for b/f.

[Chickadee]

Oh, and yes, the Tommee tippee nuborn teats will probably be too slow for your daughter. I can't remember what we were using at 6 months but I think it was the fast flow (Pur I was using had choices of slow, medium, fast).

[Rainbowbrite]

Ok so if she wont take the bottle, how long do i persist for before giving up? And do I bf her if she wont take it?

Sorry, but this is soo different. I must admit i'm sorta looking forward to doing it, just dont want it to happen too quickly IYKWIM

RB

[Chickadee]

Persist, as in how many minutes? That's a tough one. My DD latched on to the bottle with no trouble. Someone else might have some better experience on this. But I'd suggest you need to go according to her reaction. You do not want or need a screaming angry frustrated hungry baby who then isn't going to settle well to her b/f. So stop offering before that point, if that's any help at all. That might mean only a minute, or it might mean a few minutes. I'd go ahead with a b/f if she refuses the bottle, there is no need to punish her or yourself and making her go hungry would only do that. Although I think I have read experiences of bubs simply being offered the bottle at every feed with no b/f and eventually they take it, but I think that's a bit extreme.

My dd refused the breast after her first taste of formula. But we were in a very different situation to you and I can't blame her as I apparently had little milk to give her (poor starving bub!). A lot of bubs your daughters age comp feed with no trouble so hopefully you'll be able to continue bf as long as you like.

[WeThree]

hi RB, hopefully MJ will end up taking it a bit easier, but i had to stop bf full stop, because she just would not take the bot. DH had to give it to her for the first few days and it wasn't much fun to be honest! offer it first for each feed over the next few days, or when you want her to have it and see how she goes. if she refuses it, offer some breast, then take her off and try the bottle again, it wont work if she is really upset, and you will end up upset too! so if she still wont take it, pop her back on the boob again, i guess just keep offering it, i also found at first the big wide teats were the only ones tilly would use at first, i guess cause they felt a bit more like a boob or something.

[Sarie]

Hey love!
We still use the medium flow teats for PJ and he's 8 months. Just check the age on them, and it depends how quickly she picks it up to, you might need a fast flow to get her started...
Good luck!

[Julie]

New to this chat thing but been bottle feeding my 7 month old since she was 2 weeks. She wouldn't attach properly was to hypo to sit still that sort of thing and it wasn't doing mysanity any good either.
My milk started coming in good just as I changed her over, I expressed everyfeed for the second week didn't want to give up but was just too much in the end. I used cabbage leaves when I was weaning her off they totally worked but got a bit on the stinky side like they were cooking it's scary how hot they get! :D
Anyway I use all Avent from bottles, teats to steriliser (this is awesome) used Pigeon teets which fit Avent bottles when she was younger fitted in her mouth better then but she now prefers Avent ones, their shapes are completely different so don't buy too many unless you know that's the fave one.
I started on S26 Gold as advised by the pharmacy (not cheap) but had a lot of problems with not staying down, upsetting her tummy, so clinic nurse got me to go to Goats milk then had same problem so I tried S26 Lactose Free and she has been excellent on this one, it's so exciting to have a bub who doesn't perk up after each feed.
I too felt like a complete failure for bottle feeding but once I started talking to people it was amazing how many were actually bottle feeding, I didn't even realise my sister, my husband and I were bottle fed so don't feel bad and YES you time is mega important for your sanity...
Hope I've helped in some way, any other questions ask away.
Julie.

[stormanet]

heya :) if you are interested in continuing with the breast milk by expressing and then bottle feeding, the only way... and I really stress only for the sake of your mental health is to invest in a "double breast pump" mine cost about $300... took 10 minutes.. both breasts done at the same time... adn I got around 200ml a go.... way easier and more effective than any other expressing method. I found where to buy the pump just in the yellow pages.... i think under breast pumps.... not sure on that... but it saved my sanity and allowed Christopher to have breast milk for 12 weeks :)

K

[MariaO]

I can vouch for the electric double breast pump as well (mine is a Medela) - you do feel like a cow mind.....

I would get over the bottle feeding first before anything else though. A lady in my mothers group had two days of persisting with bottle feeding. The baby is bottle feeding with no problems now but it was a painful couple of days for both of them.

Other ladies I know transferred without any issues so you just don't know.

[Rainbowbrite]

I've spent all night thinking about it & I think for both our sakes I'm going to have a serious go at expressing. I'm so worried that she will refuse the breast once she gets a taste for formula :(

Those pumps sound great, might look for a 2nd hand one or something. Dont want to spend hundreds if i dont like it.

Thanks again
RB

[Kamaikia]

Hi I never BF my son but have a few words of advice. I found the best steriliser was a 10L container with lid (make sure liters are marked down the side) and some milton steriliser - quick easy and cheap. Also when you make the move remember to get plenty of water into bub - so that it doesn't get constipated. Bottle fed babies need more water than breast fed ones do (least thats what my doctor says). If bub does get constipated the easiest way to fix it is put about a quarter of teaspoon of brown sugar in a couple hundred mls of water - won't take long at all.

[Tisme]

My kids were both on the Soul Pattersons brand of formula, and they have high allergies. But when you look at the breakdown on the side of the pack they actually contain ALL the essentials needed for bubs and a bit more.

Just try to relax into the feed. I was told (when weaning Alana) that I was to offer small feeds to start with, more regularly, and not offer the breast at all until night time. Then when she was taking the bottle (after two days) then increase the feeds and stretch back to every four hours. I too had to have me time as I was feeding every two hours for an hour and a half, so in substance was NOT feeding for half an hour every two.

[stormanet]

heya :) you can hire one from the chemist.. call them up.. try it for a month, then decide if you want to buy one :))
k

[Chickadee]

RB, I don't want to put you off expressing, ok? I agree EBM is a better choice for bub than formula. But I do want to comment on a one thing.

Considering that one of your reasons for comp feeding with bottles is to give you some free time, have you thought about the time that might be required to express enough to make up that one bottle feed per day? And also the extra time to clean your expressing equipment (in addition to bottles). I expressed for a month, mixing EBM and formula. And it was seriously exhausting. When I wasn't hooked up to the hated machine I was either actively looking after Chloe or cleaning bottles and expressing equipment. Granted, I had much lower overall bm supply than you did, but I also was getting higher flows by expressing than you've said you've had to date. By all means give expressing a serious go, but please don't feel bad if it doesn't work for you or you find you can't sustain the routine. I found it very exhausting.

You need to make sure that what you choose is best for both you and your daughter. Happy kids come from happy mums, regardless of how or what they are fed.

[dainamummy]

My bub is almost 3mths, I started him on formula, after a very short 10 days breast feeding. he was on S26gold, but he was constantly spewing, so we then try s26 AR, i found that it was too messy and he wasnt happy about it.
I now feed him with Nan HA. Im so confused which formula would be suitable. Alot of people say that NAn Ha is only for infants that has a high allegies etc. I mean bub is doing fine with this formula only he bowel moment is greenish yellow and very smelly and can be quite runny.
But also, because of the price, we are at very tight buget, so I really want to know, shall i change formula again to a cheaper brand and not gold as well. Also im concerned that if too much changing formula, will make them sick eventually. :confused:

[Mum2Lucas]

Hey It is a hard thing to do I had to make that choice when ds was 3 weeks old. I have found that he throws up heaps on normal formulas so we use Bellay's organic formula or Babynat organic formula. We also use the pigeon wideneck bottles and peristaltic teets as well. and to sterilise we have a pigeon electric steriliser all you do is put smoe water in it load it up and press the button and 10 minutes later you get sterilised bottles. Hope that helps heaps and good luck with you bub.

[JessandKirra]

Best time to comp feed is in the afternoon. Or thenext feed due after the lunch BF As your supply is lower in the evenings and they always want more then.

Slow wean... I found BF 1st feed, Bottle 2nd Feed, BF 3rd feed, Bottle late arvo and BF for bed. Depends on age though. I thing that was 4-6 months Now at 9 months she has three bottle all day no BF and sleeps through!. Oh so long ago.